1Now there was a man at Caesarea named
Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, 2a
devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave
many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually.
3About the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw in a
vision an angel of God who had just come in and said to him,
"Cornelius!" 4And fixing his gaze on him and being much
alarmed, he said, "What is it, Lord?" And he said to him, "Your
prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5"Now
dispatch some men to Joppa and send for a man named
Simon, who is also called Peter; 6he is staying with a
tanner named Simon, whose house is by the sea." 7When
the angel who was speaking to him had left, he summoned two of his
servants and a devout soldier of those who were his personal
attendants, 8and after he had explained everything to
them, he sent them to Joppa.

9On the next day, as they were on their way and
approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth
hour to pray. 10But he became hungry and was desiring to
eat; but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance;
11and he *saw the sky opened up, and an object like a
great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground,
12and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals
and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. 13A
voice came to him, "Get up, Peter, kill and eat!" 14But
Peter said, "By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything
unholy and unclean." 15Again a voice came to him a
second time, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider
unholy." 16This happened three times, and immediately the
object was taken up into the sky.

17Now while Peter was greatly perplexed in mind as to
what the vision which he had seen might be, behold, the men who had
been sent by Cornelius, having asked directions for Simon's house,
appeared at the gate; 18and calling out, they were asking
whether Simon, who was also called Peter, was staying there. 19While
Peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Behold,
three men are looking for you. 20"But get up, go
downstairs and accompany them without misgivings, for I have sent
them Myself." 21Peter went down to the men and said,
"Behold, I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason for
which you have come?" 22They said, "Cornelius, a
centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man well spoken of by the
entire nation of the Jews, was divinely directed by a holy
angel to send for you to come to his house and hear a message
from you." 23So he invited them in and gave them lodging.

The Holy Bible, New American
Standard Version (c)1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977,
1995 by the Lockman
Foundation, La Habra, CA. All rights reserved. Words
identified as being spoken by Jesus are in red.www.BibleABC.net